OSS return: which sales do you report?

In short

• Services: to private customers in other EU countries if you owe VAT there, e.g. telecommunications, e-services (§ 3a (5) UStG).
• Also out: new vehicles, supplies with assembly or installation and supplies under the margin scheme (§ 3c (5) UStG).
• Taxable only: Sales exempt or zero-rated in the destination country stay out; with no sales, you file a nil return.

Which sales go into the OSS return?

The law names three kinds of sales covered by the special scheme (§ 18j (1) sentence 1 UStG): supplies within one member state where a marketplace is treated as the supplier, intra-Community distance sales, and certain services to recipients as defined in § 3a (5) sentence 1 UStG. For most online sellers the middle one counts.

Distance sales of goods. An intra-Community distance sale is the supply of goods that you, or someone on your behalf, ship from one member state to another member state to the customer, even if you are only indirectly involved in the shipping (§ 3c (1) sentence 2 UStG). The customer is mainly the private buyer, someone who is not buying as a business for the business (§ 3c (1) sentence 3 in conjunction with § 3a (5) sentence 1 UStG). The supply counts as made where the goods arrive (§ 3c (1) sentence 1 UStG). That is why you owe the VAT of that country.

Services to consumers. These are services to private persons in EU countries where you are not established and where you owe the VAT (§ 18j (1) sentence 1 no. 2 UStG; BZSt). They include, for example, telecommunications services, broadcasting and television services, and electronically supplied services to private customers (§ 3a (5) UStG), such as digital products.

Supplies through a marketplace. If a marketplace supports the supply of a seller from outside the EU to a private customer, the law treats the marketplace itself as the supplier (§ 3 (3a) sentence 1 UStG). The marketplace can report such supplies in the OSS. If you sell from Germany yourself, you remain the supplier and report your own distance sales.

Values count net. The BZSt measures the threshold by the total of the sales “without VAT”; in the return you enter the tax base (net amount) and the tax amount for each country and rate.

Which sales do not go into the OSS return?

Two points are often mixed up. First, the 10,000 euro threshold applies to all distance sales and the telecommunications, broadcasting, television and electronically supplied services to private customers in other EU countries together, in the previous and in the current calendar year (§ 3c (4) sentence 1 UStG). Second, private customers in Germany belong in the OSS return only if you supply them under the special scheme, for example domestic sales through electronic interfaces. Otherwise you declare them to the tax office (BZSt).

What applies to stock in another EU country?

If you keep goods in another EU country, the route of the goods decides. The European Commission gives an example: a trader supplying from Cyprus to Greece reports that in the OSS. Supplies from Cyprus to customers in Cyprus go into the ordinary VAT return of that country, “because these are not intra-Community distance sales of goods”. The same applies to goods from a warehouse in Bulgaria to customers in Bulgaria. Goods from a warehouse in Bulgaria to customers in Cyprus, however, go into the OSS.

That is why the BZSt separates, in the return, goods supplied from Germany from goods supplied from establishments or facilities abroad. More on registering in the country of the warehouse: OSS vs local VAT registration. For Amazon sellers there is OSS on Amazon.

How do you enter the sales in the return?

The BZSt requires the details “separately for each EU member state” and broken down “by the applicable tax rates”. Amounts are in euro; values in foreign currency are converted at the European Central Bank rate of the last day of the tax period. The rate of each country is in OSS VAT rates of the EU countries.

A country you did not sell to in the quarter is left out; you do not need to list it with zero (European Commission). If you had no OSS sales at all in the quarter and no corrections, you file a nil return. The return and the payment are due by the end of the following month: 30 April, 31 July, 31 October and 31 January. Returns and credit notes are covered in OSS returns: negative sales and refunds.

Which mistakes come up most often?

• Putting domestic sales into the OSS return. Sales to customers in Germany belong in the advance return.
• Reporting B2B deliveries with a VAT ID. That is a tax-exempt intra-Community supply, not a distance sale.
• Entering gross amounts. You report the tax base without VAT.
• Listing every country with zero. It is enough to name the countries you sold to in the quarter.
• Treating all sales from a foreign warehouse alike. Delivery within the same country: national return. Delivery into another country: OSS.
• Forgetting the nil return. Even without sales the return is due.

How VAT GPT helps

VAT GPT sorts your sales by tax type and calculates the OSS return. You proceed like this:

1. Upload: You upload your Amazon or eBay CSV reports and your invoices. The AI reads amounts, countries and tax rates. VAT GPT flags invoices with low confidence for manual review.
2. Check: VAT GPT separates German VAT from OSS VAT and breaks the sales down by country and VAT rate. You check and confirm.
3. Send: With VAT GPT Pro, the return goes directly to the BZSt.

You register for the OSS in the BZStOnline portal. For sales you report through your own registration in a country, VAT GPT shows an overview. Everything is in one place: advance VAT return, annual VAT return, OSS return, EÜR, trade tax and income tax returns. There is Free (basic features, free of charge), Go (30 days free with all Pro features) and Pro (€49 per month or €444 per year, each including VAT). Try for Free Now

Frequently asked questions

Which sales must I report in the OSS return? Distance sales of goods and certain services to private customers in other EU countries, by country and VAT rate (§ 18j UStG; BZSt).

Do sales within Germany go into the OSS return? No. They belong in the advance VAT return. The exception is domestic sales made under the special scheme, for example through electronic interfaces (BZSt).

Do B2B sales go into the OSS return? No. Deliveries to businesses in another EU country with a valid VAT ID are intra-Community supplies (§ 6a UStG).

Do sales to Switzerland or Norway go into the OSS return? No. A distance sale goes from one EU country to another (§ 3c (1) sentence 2 UStG).

Do I report gross or net amounts? Net amounts without VAT, plus the VAT amount for each country and rate.

Must I include a country I did not sell to? No (European Commission). If you sold nothing in the whole quarter, you file a nil return.

Further reading

• OSS return for online sellers: a guide
• The EU VAT OSS threshold of 10,000 euros: examples
• OSS VAT rates of the EU countries
• Correcting an OSS return

Not tax advice: the content does not replace individual advice.

Sources

• § 18j UStG (in German)
• § 3c UStG (in German)
• § 3a UStG (in German)
• § 3 UStG (in German)
• § 6a UStG (in German)
• BZSt: One-Stop-Shop, EU scheme (in German)
• European Commission: Declare and pay OSS